Ideal Bite

Kinda like jambalaya, here's a throw-everything-in mix of ideas for maximum Mardi Gras enjoyment.

Craft ideas from our always creative Editorial Intern, Erica:

• Grab a nice glass jar or vase and fill it with Mardi Gras beads, then slide the stems of some flowers into it. Instant showpiece.
  
• Got some photos of yourself at Mardi Gras? Hot glue some beads around a wooden picture frame and put your photo inside. Makes a very creative way to remember a good time.

You can also try your hand at making full-on visual art pieces.

Biter Recipes
(Incorporate local and organic ingredients wherever possible.)

Mint Julep (for

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I don't know where this whole "sexy librarian" thing came from, but I've never seen one. Not straight up live in a library anyway. The sexiest thing at my college library was this crazy robot thing that would fetch books in this glassed-off area that students weren't allowed to go into. That was pretty sweet. 

There's definitely nothing sexy about my current institution - the SF Public Library - either, unless you consider all the sink-bathing that's happening to be hot.

Free is sexy though. Let's go with that.

-SF Editor Hanah...off to put on some glasses and let my hair down...

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A few suggestions I've taken to heart over the years:

"You'll be more comfortable if you pull your hair out from under the collar of your coat." - courtesy of Heinrick, fellow student, University of Leeds

"If you're cold, put on a pair of socks and a sweater. If you're sad, go play tennis." - courtesy of Dad

...and that Ideal Bite's taken:

 "I think Blue Ocean Institute's new text messaging service is an Ideal Bite..."- courtesy of Ideal Bite reader Nancy Civetta

Which leads me to: If you're not comfy giving recommendations in person, don't let that stop you - there are some great benefits to offering feedback by good ol' email. How do I know? Because our beloved Biters (that'd be you) send us lots. Lots.

Some perks:

If you email, you often can target your message a little better.

If you type out what you have to say, you can step

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Moving is quite possibly my least favorite task on the planet. No exaggeration. I would rather do my taxes. Or plan a funeral. Or be put on hold with my bank and be forced to listen to their Best of Lite Rock Muzak for 5 hours. Or wait in line in the rain for the chance to clean the public pay toilets out on Market Street with my bare hands and a too-small sponge.

Seriously, I have nothing to add to this tip at all. I'm just here to complain. Thanks for listening.

-Senior Editor Mike...off to not move anything anywhere...

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Did you go on the worst Valentine's Day date ever last year? Well, at least you lived to tell the tale here on the Ideal Bite website.

We'll award an Eco Sexy Kit from Babeland to the authors of the five most painful/awkward/can't-believe-they-did-that Valentine's Day stories (just click on "Comments" below to submit your story for everyone to read). The kits include an elastomer (not PVC) vibrator, water-based lube, a massage candle made from soy, and vegan condoms. You deserve it all for surviving such an excruciating ordeal.

-Toshio...off to bang his head against the wall trying to think of how he can surprise his sig-o tomorrow...

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Gift baskets rock - especially when everything's edible. Basket and packing, you can generally reuse (and your next giftee can reuse it again). But really, the ginormous sheet of plastic enclosing the thing? A bow alone will do - less trash, no horrible crackly sound, same festive feeling.

Side note: If you're building your own gift, consider including things you've enjoyed that you no longer use and/or things you don't have to buy - for example, for a stressed friend, sign over your copy of Tea with Mussolini, and throw in a box of chamomile and some organic lemons from the tree in your yard as a thoughtful way to say, "Make time for yourself."

-Jenifer...off to eat a packaging-free lunch...

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Everyone I know is in love with Splenda. It's sweet, it's light, it's calorie-free. Seeing as how everyone loved saccharin (Sweet'N Low) and aspartame (Equal/NutraSweet) before we decided they might give you cancer, it seemed too good to be true, so I did a little poking around on the interwebs.

Turns out Splenda, known as sucralose, is essentially made by adding chlorine to sucrose. There are unsubstantiated rumblings that it was discovered by accident during pesticide creation trials - not a totally ridiculous claim, since many pesticides are chlorinated compounds.

To be fair, that's not as scary as it sounds, either - I mean, salt is a chlorinated compound, and it's the best thing ever to ever be invented by the universe ever. (EVER.) But we also thought trans fats were fine too, and look how that turned out.

So it comes down to this: Agave nectar is

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Seen the Kleenex commercials where they set up some furniture and a box of tissues on the street, and this dude asks people to "let out" their emotions (typically ending in tears)?

Turns out those tissues are causing some waterworks of their own, specifically from deer, squirrels, and other inhabitants of old-growth forests. Old-growth forests the maker of Kleenex, Kimberley-Clark, is cutting down so it can supply the world with schnoz-napkins. Greenpeace's Kleercut campaigners found out where Kleenex was filming and let out their own thoughts about the product.

To K-C's credit, it recently introduced a partially recycled tissue, Read the full post... 

If I wasn't an editor, I'd be a carpenter. I'm a big fan o' rummaging for old pieces of furniture and refurbishing 'em into something usable. Problem is, city apartments hardly ever come with an extra closet much less a toolshed, so I borrow (Diane's drill, my roommate's IKEA tool set) 'cuz who's really using this stuff more than once a year or so? (Other than carpenters...) Just last week, in fact, I uncovered two Scandinavian chairs for - get this - $7 total. With a little sanding (my 'rents gave me a wee electric sander one Xmas that I cherish) and some new upholstery they now look straight outta a Design Within Reach catalog - without me forking over my paycheck+ and without using up all the planet's resources that go into

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Here's the thing. I get it. I get why you hate today's tip so much that your face is beet red and you're afraid your head might explode as you sit there, composing your comment. (You might want to take a deep breath, or your heart won't slow down.) Veal and caviar and foie gras...they all just smack of ridiculous personal gluttony at the expense of another creature. In the end, they all are completely, utterly unnecessary.
 
Just like those leather shoes. Like that cozy suede chair over there. Or the rawhide bone your dog is chewing on in the corner.
 
Now, if you are a vegan, and your clothes are all plant-based (because a lot of vegan shoes are made from plastics that use up our water supplies and leach chems into the waterways and result in more overall animal death than a solid pair of leather uppers), and you don't have any friends who can get a little greener Read the full post...